Virgin America to use SabreSonic and AirCentre Operations for growth

Virgin America has announced the selection of Sabre Airline Solutions’ SabreSonic Customer Sales and Service (CSS) to power its reservations system and Sabre’s AirCentre Operations systems to integrate its flight operations and crew scheduling functions.

The airline believes the move to the Sabre platforms will help it build a robust and integrated systems infrastructure, further positioning it for the significant growth it forecasts in the years ahead. The airline has also renewed its Sabre global distribution system (GDS) agreement to allow Sabre Connected travel agents to continue to access fully the airline’s low-fare flights and ancillary revenue offerings. Virgin America has had a GDS agreement with Sabre since the airline’s launch in 2007. This will extend the partnership via a multi-year agreement.

“We’re pleased to extend and expand our partnership with Sabre. As a growing airline with low operating costs and an award-winning product, renewing our full content GDS participation with Sabre will extend our sales reach and make our low-fare, upscale service available to more consumers in more channels. At the same time, moving to Sabre’s integrated reservations and operational platforms will enhance our revenue reach, improve our operating efficiencies and further position us for growth ahead,” explained Virgin America president and CEO David Cush.

Virgin America expects to implement the new Sabre reservations and operational systems in late 2011. Sabre offers an integrated solution as a single provider for both the airline’s operational and reservations systems. The integrated reservations platform will allow Virgin America to exploit more fully new revenue channels, including the continued expansion of its interline partnerships and future codeshare alliances.